Tuesday, August 07, 2007

Very brief thoughts on "My Boys" and "Saving Grace" coming up just as soon as I go to confession...

It's always dangerous to watch a TV show about your profession. Cops pick apart all the logic leaps in cop shows, lawyers gripe about legal shows and my hospital administrator wife likes to yell at the TV about all the inaccuracies while we watch "ER" or "House" or "Grey's Anatomy." I'm not a sportswriter, but I work at a newspaper and have a bunch of sportswriter friends, including some women, and I cringed throughout last night's "My Boys." That P.J. would get all flirty with the new Cub was awkward enough, but that she would have absolutely no idea that this is the cardinal sin for female sportswriters -- that half the athletes and coaches and even the male reporters assume they're just there to nail an athlete -- was just awful.

There's probably an episode in P.J. developing an attraction to a player she covers and how she deals with that given the stigma, but she was written here as someone brand-new to sports reporting, and not someone established enough to be the Cubs beat reporter at one of Chicago's two major dailies. I won't object to another appearance by Jay Tarses as the seasoned columnist, but P.J. shouldn't have needed the old guy to explain it to her.

On the plus side, we got another Trouty appearance. I should hate Trouty, as he's a walking collection of tics and cliches in search of a character, but something about Johnny Galecki's performance is really endearing to me. (Or maybe it's just that I've seen him on "Big Bang Theory" and realize how much better he is here.)

After doing a good job the first two episodes balancing Grace's spiritual salvation with the pedestrian cop stories, "Saving Grace" gives us an episode that's at least 70-30 in favor of the cop stuff, and that's not a good ratio. And having established in an earlier episode that Grace was molested by a priest, I found most of the Church-related material heavy-handed, with one exception: when Grace tried to act like she didn't remember her first kiss, I wondered for a minute whose identity she was protecting and realized it was probably the priest. I'm glad that the Lorraine Toussaint character is written as more of an ally for Grace than the previous Disapproving Black Captain, but I either want to see more of Grace and Earl moving forward or they need to really punch up the procedural stories.

6 comments:

I agree, the fact that PJ even entertained the idea of dating a player didn't make sense at all. My favorite part of the episode was actually the mutual disgust between Kenny and Stephanie. I watched the first season, but I don't remember if it was ever explained why they hate each other.

Also if you think Jim Gaffigan is the funniest thing on the show like I do, you should check out the extra stuff online with him in his car.

I was going to mention how do you not mention Gaffigan--even if the way they reached so hard to get everyone at the party, was just dumb. Gaffigan in the tux and the clipboard made me laugh so hard I missed half of those scenes. Although I did like the group attack in the elevator and poor Bobby freaking out about not being nominated.

This episode drove me nuts. So, let me get this straight -- she goes out on a very public date with a player she covers on her beat, even to the point that she holds hands with him at the bar -- then *congratulates* herself on being really ethical and "getting it" about how she shouldn't date players?

It really beggared belief.

It was insulting on every single level. Someone one week out of J school would know not to do the stuff that PJ did. Yet she's proud of herself by the end of the episode. Just mindboggling.

I wasn't a fan of the show before, but when the lead character is truly dumber than a box of rocks -- yet glows with self regard at her intellectual prowess -- I'm out. Done.

Though I do love the Gaffigan.

Someone should take Scurti from Rescue Me and Gaffigan and give them a show. They're the only reasons to watch the respective shows they're on.